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The mother Maoist outfit, which emerged as the largest party in the 2008 Constituent Assembly (CA) elections, suffered multiple splits thereafter. Towering Maoist leaders such as Baburam Bhattarai, Mohan Baidya and Netra Bikram Chand left the mothership but then failed to make a headway in national politics. Maoist supremo Pushpa Kamal Dahal, however, continued to lead the mainstream Maoist party that he turned into a moderate political force. Now he plans on bringing back former Maoist leaders to cement his hold on the party. In the past seven years, Bhattarai, the chief ideologue of the 10-year Maoist war, experimented with socialist parties of various kinds but failed each time. Now he wants to make amends with Dahal. Many Maoist leaders have now realized that the split was a blunder. Bhattarai for one is sure to contest elections under the Maoist symbol. Leaders close to Dahal are also reaching out to other Maoist leaders, asking them to return. Maoist cadres who were affiliated with different splinter groups have already rejoined. “I am working to bring all communist forces including Maoist splinter groups together. This will take a more concrete shape after the elections,” Dahal said on August 15 after meeting Bhattarai. Except Dahal and Bhattarai, no other senior Maoist leader has won direct elections. Shyam Shrestha, a political analyst, sees high chances of the likes of Dahal, Bhattarai, and Chand coming together as they do not have major ideological differences and each has a pragmatic approach to national politics. “They did not part ways on ideological grounds but due to clash of egos and differences over resource-allocation. They can easily reunite,” he says.

Nepal reported 286 new Covid-19 cases on Sunday. According to the Ministry of Health and Population, 1, 816 swab samples were tested in the RT-PCR method, of which 202 returned positive. Likewise, 1, 607 people underwent antigen tests, of which 84 were tested positive. The Ministry said that no one died of the virus in the last 24 hours. The Ministry said that 479 infected people recovered from the disease. As of today, there are 4, 348 active cases in the country.

Last rites of Nepali Congress leader and Constituent Assembly member Pradeep Giri were performed at the Pashupati Aryaghat as per the Hindu rituals on Sunday. Nepali Congress senior leaders and senior leaders of other parties paid tributes to Giri at the Aryaghat. Noted socialist thinker and philosopher Giri breathed his last during the course of treatment at the Mediciti Hospital on Saturday night. He was 75. He had been suffering from throat cancer for the past five years. An emergency meeting of the Central Working Committee of the Nepali Congress held on Sunday endorsed the condolence motion on the demise of leader Giri. The meeting also decided to lower the party flag half-mast and not to conduct official functions for the next three days—August 21, 22 and 23—NC Chief Secretary Krishna Prasad Paudel said. The meeting has also decided to close all the party offices on Monday.The party has also decided to hold condolence meetings in all districts, municipalities and VDCs on September 1. Giri had returned to Nepal a few months ago after treatment for throat cancer at Hinduja Hospital in Mumbai, India. He was admitted to the Mediciti Hospital a month ago after suffering from Pneumonia. Dr Sandarbha Giri, who had been attending to Giri, said that he died at 9: 30 pm.

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) plunged by 7. 72 points to close at 2,060.55 points on Sunday. Similarly, the sensitive index dropped by 1. 49 points to close at 398. 58 points. A total of 5,339,004 units of the shares of 218 companies were traded for Rs 2. 04 billion. Meanwhile, Mandakini Hydropower Limited was the top gainer today with its price surging by 10 percent. Likewise, River Falls Power Limited was the top loser with its price dropped by 5. 19 percent. At the end of the day, the total market capitalization stood at Rs 2. 95 trillion.

Police have arrested an Indian national in possession of one kg gold from the Tribhuvan International Airport. The suspect has been identified as Rahul Ramanan (31). He came to Kathmandu on a Fly Dubai flight. Police followed him after he acted suspiciously soon after he landed at the airport. After the arrest, he was taken to the Kathmandu Medical College for an x-ray test which revealed that he had concealed four cylindrical gold masses in his stomach. He has been handed over to the Department of Customs for investigation, the Metropolitan Police Circle, Gaushala said.

Floods and landslides triggered by intense monsoon rains killed at least 50 people in northern and eastern India over the last three days, officials said on Sunday, Reuters reported. The rains overwhelmed hundreds of villages, sweeping away houses and leaving residents stranded as rescue crews have been racing to evacuate survivors.

Farming contributes around 15% to India's $2.7 trillion economy while sustaining more than half the population of 1.3 billion. Heavy showers followed by landslides and flooding in the Himalayan state of Himachal Pradesh over the past three days killed at least 36 people, a state government official told Reuters. In the neighbouring mountainous state of Uttarakhand, an official government release said that four were dead and 13 were missing due to continuous rainfall. "We have deployed choppers to rescue people who are stuck in remote areas due to rain related incidents. The rescue operation is happening on full swing," said Ranjit Kumar Sinha, an official in Uttarakhand's disaster management department, according to Reuters. In the eastern state of Odisha, at least six people were dead amid ongoing torrential rains, a state official said. Floods have affected nearly 800,000 people and displaced thousands from their homes in Odisha, with rains disrupting electricity and water supply, and damaging road infrastructure. The state has evacuated 120,000 people so far from the affected areas. Authorities in the Ramgarh district of the eastern state of Jharkhand said five people had been swept away by the waters of the swollen Nalkari river on Saturday. Four bodies have been recovered so far, said Madhvi Mishra, a district official in Ramgarh, Reuters reported.